


Edmund Reid: Space Explorer

by GrumpyQueer



Category: Ripper Street
Genre: Drug Use, Gen, M/M, Space Exploration, Victorian era, ripper street - Freeform, space cakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 15:16:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13390569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyQueer/pseuds/GrumpyQueer
Summary: A cracky little ficlet where Edmund accidentally ingests space cakes.





	Edmund Reid: Space Explorer

An ordinary day in Whitechapel… or  _was_  it? 

For Bennet Drake, at least, his morning had started like any other; a searing hot cup of black tea; three pieces of toast with a little butter and jam; and a quick morning shave and splash of warm soapy water, cleaning him up before he got about his duties. But, what befell him when he sought out his Inspector in The Dead Room for their usual morning briefing…  _well_ … it confused even he, a man who had grown up amidst the many obscurities of Wild Whitechapel. 

‘…What do you call this, then?’ He asked, with a cautious grin. 

In front of him sat his two most esteemed colleagues, down on the floor with their legs crossed, colour pencils and shavings all about them, donning matching tin foil hats, both with sharp peaks. For one reason or another, they were also furiously taking notes, and appeared rather unperturbed by their Sergeant’s entrance.

‘ _Uhh_ … ‘ello? Inspecta?’

Nothing. Just the sound of their pencils scratching, the cogs turning in their over-oiled brains. As Drake walked closer, however, he noticed that Reid was muttering some kind of nonsense under his breath. He crouched down to their eye level and waved his hand in front of their faces, noticing the sunken, grey bags under their eyes, and the vibrant bloodshot veins. Reid, in particular, looked positively deranged.  

‘Jaysus… what is this? What ‘ave you two been up ta, ey?’ He reached out and grabbed his Inspector by the shoulders, giving him a light shake.

‘Let the man work, Benito!’ Jackson scowled, pushing his hands from him. ‘Just let the man work…’

‘Work on wot?!’

Edmund suddenly sat up straight, snapping out of a trance. ‘BENNET!’ He yelled enthusiastically, spraying a bead of spit straight into his Sergeant’s eye. ‘We must tell you of our adventure! Jackson, Jackson! We must tell him all!’

After wiping the spit away with his handkerchief, Bennet’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, fearful of Reid’s frenetic expressions and skittish movements. 

‘Wot adventcha? Ey?’

‘Deep space! The magic of it all…  _the magic, Bennet!’_

He watched as his Inspector began grinning, giddy and handing over his notebook full of doodlings, tapping at the pages like an over-excited monkey trying to crack a nut on a rock. ‘Look,  _look_!’ Edmund insisted. Within, he had drawn outlines of little green creatures wearing robes, stupendous whirlpool galaxies, and vibrant crafts with flashing lights of neon, scorching across the night sky.  _  
_

‘We have seen them all ourselves’ Reid whispered, in a very matter of fact way.

‘ _I… see…_ ’

He handed Edmund’s picture book back and gave him a reassuring smile and tap on the arm, before glaring across at the American, rife with instinctual accusations. ‘ _Jackson_ … a word, if you will?’

Keeping their voices low, the two of them leaned closer to speak in a huddled hush. Edmund stared at them suspiciously for a moment, trying to decode, before resuming his arts and crafts, back to chronicling in a frenzy.

‘I uhh… I can’t leave him, Benito. Gotta sit with him til he comes down. I’m goin’ along with all this to keep him calm.’  

‘ _Comes down? Wot ‘ave you dun to him, Jackson?_ ’

‘Shhh… keep it down!’ Jackson scrunched up his face in defense, still whispering. ‘I took him to the Royal Observatory last night to look at the stars, made a picnic and all for a surprise, but…’

‘But?!’

He answered with exasperation: ‘I accidentally gave him a space cake, alright?! It was a goddamn accident, I swear!’

Bennet clenched his jaw, looking ready to biff, ever-loyal of his superior. But he took a few deep breaths, instead.

‘Well… shouldn’t he be outta it by now, then?’

‘Uh,  _well_ … yeah. But he ate the whole damn cake. He got the munchies… bad. And now he thinks he’s actually  _been_  to space, instead of having just looked at the damn thing through a telescope.’

A smile was starting to grow on the Captain’s face, and the curl of his lips trembled as he fought hard to swallow his amusement. 

‘ _A whole cake_? For Christ’s sake, Jackson! He’s gonna be off with the fairies aw day n night!’

They both paused, turning their heads in unison and looking at Reid, watching him muttering his incoherencies as he kept scribbling stars and planets and extra-terrestrial beings, showing absolutely no signs of slowing. Every few seconds he’d blurt out a loud chuckle, his shoulders bouncing along at whatever the hell was going on in his head.

Continuing to watch Ed lovingly - and with a little slice of pity - Jackson leaned forward and straightened up his tin foil hat for him, which had fallen crooked.

‘I’d wager he’ll be off in space for a while longer yet, Benito… a while longer yet…’ 

They both finally broke, and burst out laughing, when Chief Inspector Abberline came stampeding through the door. Standing in silence at the entrance, he sucked in some air past his whiskery lips, squinting his eyes disapprovingly, a frustrated groan gurgling deep from within his chest.

Reid, of course, remained light-years away. 

‘…Nice hats, gentleman.’ 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


End file.
